Toxic Land Generates Solar Energy

January 9, 2013—New Jersey is turning eyesores into solar farms. The U.S. state has become a leader in solar energy capacity. Energy from the sun now comes from contaminated land not suitable for development.

Toxic Land Generates Solar Energy

January 9, 2013—New Jersey is turning eyesores into solar farms. The U.S. state has become a leader in solar energy capacity. Energy from the sun now comes from contaminated land not suitable for development.

VO: New Jersey is cementing its role as a leader in solar energy. The Solar Energy Industries Association reports that in the United States, New Jersey is second only to California in installed solar electric capacity. But, densely populated states like New Jersey need to be creative in finding space for large arrays of solar panels.

VO: PSE&G, the local Electric & Gas Utility, is installing more than 4,000 panels on six acres of unused land in Hackensack. Once the site of a gas plant and then gas storage facilities, the ground was contaminated and labeled a brownfield.

SOUNDBITE :Paul Morrison, Project Manager for PSE&G Solar 4 All: "We've taken this site that was non-usable, it was contaminated. It's a passive use and it's going to produce power that could supply over 170 homes in the immediate area."

VO: The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that nearly half a million brownfields dot the U.S. These former mining, industrial or commercial properties -- tainted with petroleum, metals or other pollutants -- become eyesores, and cleaning them up for standard development is both expensive and time-intensive. The EPA has identified some 11,000 brownfields across the country as prime spots for renewable energy development.

SOUNDBITE: Mathy Stanislaus, U.S. EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response: "I view brownfields as a tremendous opportunity. And it is an opportunity because it is located near population centers and in urban downtowns and rural downtowns"

VO: Since most brownfields once held power-hungry industrial, commercial, or mining machinery, they tend to have power lines and other infrastructure onsite or nearby, making it cheaper to tie them into the grid..

SOUNDBITE: Mathy Stanislaus, U.S. EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response: "One of the real benefits of siting a solar farm on a brownfield site is that you may not need to do cleanup or extensive cleanup, and the reason is that you can use these techniques where you contain the contamination within the property."

VO: Despite such savings on the land itself, solar farms are expensive. PSE&G is spending about a half billion dollars to install 80 megawatts of solar generation within the year. The state's electric ratepayers' advocate is opposing a plan to more than double that expenditure.

SOUNDBITE : Stefanie Brand, Director, Division of the Rate Counsel for New Jersey: "We think that there are tremendous environmental benefits and we support renewable energy generally. The problem is that it's very expensive. So that's why you have to manage it and you also have to make sure the industry doesn't become completely dependent on ratepayer subsidies. At some point, they're going to have to walk by themselves."

VO: PSE&G says it has cost customers only an average of 30 cents a month to rapidly boost clean energy generation while reclaiming brownfields and this closed New Jersey Meadowlands Commission landfill.

This video was captured earlier in the fall, and while Hurricane Sandy in November brought major flooding and wind damage to nearby communities, officials say the solar array here suffered no significant damage.

SOUNDBITE :Joseph Forline, PSE&G Vice President for Customer Operations: "If you look at this site here, this is our first landfill that we did. And it's 3 megawatts. In our new filing, we want to do 90 megawatts of solar on landfills and brownfields, so really it's another significant step in taking advantage of unused land."

VO: As the cost of solar technology comes down and utilities work to meet state goals on renewable energy, officials expect to see more brownfields become brightfields.

Toxic Land Generates Solar Energy

January 9, 2013—New Jersey is turning eyesores into solar farms. The U.S. state has become a leader in solar energy capacity. Energy from the sun now comes from contaminated land not suitable for development.